The New York Red Bulls introduced Ali Curtis as the organization’s new sporting director on Tuesday morning. Curtis, a former MLS player, joins the Red Bulls after spending seven years with the MLS league office, including five years as MLS’ Senior Director of Player Relations and Competition. Though this will be his first endeavor on the club side, both Curtis and the Red Bulls are confident that he brings a wealth of knowledge and passion, and that he has the vision and philosophy to build a team for long-term success.
The 36-year-old Curtis, a native of Milan, Michigan, was an outstanding player at Duke University from 1997 to 2000, winning the Hermann Trophy in his junior year and the MAC Award as a senior, both of which recognize college soccer’s best player. He scored 53 goals and added 28 assists in his career, still among the all-time leaders at Duke.
Curtis entered MLS in 2001 as the second overall pick by the Tampa Bay Mutiny. After the team was dissolved the following season, Curtis’ rights were picked up by D.C. United, where he played a season and a half before ending his career with the Dallas Burn in 2003.
After retiring from soccer, Curtis spent three years as an analyst for JP Morgan before returning to MLS in 2007. He played a variety of roles within the Commissioner’s office before settling into his position overseeing “all aspects of the soccer side of the business,” including player negotiations and contracts, player development initiatives and the current partnership with USL Pro, a project that he played a key role in developing.
This path gives Curtis unique qualifications for a sporting director. He is intimately familiar with the inner workings of MLS regulations that pertain to personnel, and he understands the challenges of navigating league rules, such as the salary cap and various player designations, to build the best-possible team. In his most recent role, where he directly oversaw player transactions and roster moves, Curtis had a first-hand view of how different clubs put together their teams.
“At the league office you get the opportunity to really involve yourself in all aspects of the business and you’re very closely tied with the clubs,” said Curtis in an interview. “I’ve had, over the last seven years, the opportunity to work with every club in the league, every sporting director in the league. I’ve been involved with every coach in the league. To take that knowledge base and take that experience to a different area and a new chapter in my life is fantastic.”
Through his playing experience and time at the league office, Curtis has been developing and refining a philosophy for how to win in MLS. He has witnessed different strategies for roster building, and seen what works and what doesn’t.
“When you look at some of the clubs like Salt Lake, like Seattle, that have done very well over the last four or five years, you get to understand some of the common tendencies. We’ll take some of those common traits from those successful clubs and incorporate those with Red Bull, as well as with our vision, philosophy and our core values, to win.“
Curtis was actively aware of the importance of evaluating and tracking things he was a part of at the league office, as well as what he saw on pitches across MLS. Knowing that he eventually wanted to work for a club, he began writing down his thoughts, concepts, and insights into both the business and tactics of the sport.
“I’ve got this plan that starts with my vision, philosophy, identity, types of style of play, and it talks about different areas, programs and policies… I wanted to try and incorporate that into a business plan so that when I get to a team, I’m ready and I know I can achieve success.”
Curtis’ vision extends beyond personnel preferences and tactical formations. He believes that long-term success depends on building a system, a structure that encompasses every aspect of the organization, from designated players to supporters, and builds a culture of winning from the ground up.
“My vision has always been that I want to build a connection between club and community that transcends the sport. How do you do that? You really need to create an identity for the club, and what we need to do is institutionalize the Red Bull way. My philosophy has always been that success is achieved as a team.”
“It’s not easy to build a team that contends every year, but it’s something that you have to strive for, and it’s achievable. There’s a variety of different levers that you have to take advantage of within the league office, so it’s really about diving into the competition guidelines and figuring out ways in which we can utilize those resources in order to drive growth and build up a team.”
One resource that Curtis will have at his fingertips to help build that perennial contender is the Red Bulls youth programs, a system widely regarded as one of the best player development academies in the nation. Curtis said that he was excited about the opportunity to further the development of the organization’s young talent.
“One of the initiatives that I worked on when I was at the league office was the player development platform. We really wanted to find a way to continually develop players, particularly players between the ages of 18 and 22. It was a labor-intensive project. That player development platform, USL Pro and what’s happening in that space, we need to find the right way to leverage and utilize that platform at Red Bull. I’m looking forward to digging my hands into that area and driving growth.”
MLS, in an initiative led by Curtis, has encouraged all clubs to begin USL teams, or form partnerships with existing clubs. The Red Bulls continue to explore all options for USL affiliation heading into the 2015 season.
Curtis, who led MLS’ Player Development Committee in 2014, also mentioned that he’s particularly excited to work on cultivating the next generation of players in the talent-rich New York/New Jersey soccer landscape.
“From a youth soccer standpoint, it’s fantastic. Everything that we need we have around us. I see great opportunity. The Red Bulls have done well from a player development standpoint over the last five, six years. Youth development is something that I think is a path to the future, but it’s also something I’m very passionate about.”
“I look forward to continuing that passion and using that knowledge base that I have in regard to youth development, and I look forward to incorporating that into Red Bull.”
Some of that local talent has already cracked the Red Bulls roster, in the likes of Homegrown Players Matt Miazga and Connor Lade, who both saw time with the first team last season, promising goaltender Santiago Castano and newly signed Sean Davis. Curtis understands the importance of developing those players, as well as the other young talents currently with the club.
“I’d like a lot of integration with our young players, and our homegrown players. I’d like to see those guys get more meaningful minutes and see those guys on Saturday, so our fans can see all of the work that our youth directors and youth coaches are putting in, day in and day out, and see that reflected on the pitch on Saturdays. I’m really looking forward to what we can achieve from a youth development standpoint. I think the sky is the limit. We’re focused on that, we’ve got a plan for that.”
Curtis also said he sees a lot of positives in the roster he inherits from Andy Roxburgh, who did not renew his contract with the Red Bulls after two years in which the squad won the Supporter’s Shield and came within a goal of reaching MLS Cup.
“We’ve got some very good core pieces. We’ve got a solid goalkeeper, we’ve got Dax in the middle, and then we’ve got the best goal-scorer in Major League Soccer, which is unbelievable, and then there are a number of other pieces that we have with our club that we’re very excited about. We need to add some more pieces, and continue to make the team better, but that’s something that we can do… We’ve got a solid team. We’ve got to make it better.”
Curtis is wasting no time getting to work for the Red Bulls, who closed the book on a major chapter of the club’s history in 2014. He emphasized his desire to open up his own notebooks and share his business plan with the organization, stressing the need for everyone to be on the same page and working towards the same goals.
“Your greatest asset in any organization is your people. Those are the fans, those are your staff and those are your players. We’ve got great fans already, we need to have the best staff and have the best players, so we’ll be working on that, particularly over the next three to four months, to ensure we have that.”
Though he has been an executive and worked at JP Morgan more recently than he suited up for a match, it is clear that Curtis still has the same drive and desire that he had in his playing days.
“I still have that adrenaline and passion inside me that wants to be with a club, and wants to be able to enjoy the wins and losses that happen on Saturday, and to really drive growth and bring a championship to this club.”
“Now, it’s a new chapter, and it’s going to be nothing but growth. We’ve got to find a way to not only be successful, but we want to be the best. We’ve got to build a plan to do that, and I’m very confident that we’ll achieve that. What’s important is that you have a healthy culture, and a defined style of play… that the guys go out every day and they work hard, and we do it for the fans. We’ll achieve success in that respect.”
